Seven patterns, and where the library ends.

The person on the other side says, in the chat, that they have not been honest — that they are not who the profile shows, that someone else is writing, or that the premise of the relationship was not real.

Evidence: A screenshot of the statement itself, with the surrounding messages, so it cannot be read as a joke or a quote.

It is the only pattern where the other side has done the proving for you. Nothing a bank reads is harder to argue with than a party admitting the thing in writing.

A payment is requested in order to unlock, release, verify or process money that was already sent, or something already paid for. Includes the verification-fee variant: a fee framed as an age or identity check, requested outside the platform's own flow.

Evidence: The request itself, showing the framing — that the payment is needed to access something already paid for.

Advance-fee fraud is recognized across industries and card networks. This is not a category we invented; it is one we point at. Platforms do not charge for their own verification through a private message.

A sudden crisis — medical, financial, family — presented as the reason a payment must happen immediately.

Evidence: The crisis message and the payment request, with timestamps showing how close together they sit. The pattern strengthens sharply when several unrelated emergencies appear across a short period.

One emergency in a person's life is plausible. Three in six weeks is a script.

An explicit "this is the last time", followed within a short period by another request.

Evidence: Two screenshots with timestamps — the promise, and the next request. Both are needed. One alone proves nothing.

It demonstrates a deliberate false assurance rather than a change of circumstances.

Messages that are scripted rather than written to you: identical or near-identical text that also appears from other accounts, or messaging with obvious broadcast characteristics — generic where the context demanded something specific.

Evidence: Side-by-side screenshots from different accounts, or a message whose genericness is visible against the conversation around it.

Moderate alone. Strong next to a tier A pattern, because it turns a single incident into an operation.

Guilt, dependency, anger or withdrawal of attention used to pressure a payment, including punishment after a refusal.

Evidence: The pressure language tied to a payment request, or the retaliatory behavior that followed a declined one.

The most common pattern and the weakest on its own, because a stranger reading a transcript struggles to separate it from an ordinary difficult conversation. It matters as corroboration — and because it is usually the part people feel worst about.

Communication moved to Telegram, Snapchat, WhatsApp or similar, away from the platform's oversight and payment protection — particularly when the move preceded a payment request.

Evidence: The request to move, and its timing relative to the first payment.

Supporting only, never the basis of a document on its own. It is here because it is the most useful early warning sign to teach, and it usually explains why a payment left the protected rails.